


Pressure From Beyond

by WiggityFresh



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: 1 year after the Tournament of Power, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Battle Royale vs our friend Goku, Brainwashing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-05-07 15:19:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14673849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WiggityFresh/pseuds/WiggityFresh
Summary: "So I'm going over to the Briefs."Videl blinked, retying his belt as she reassessed what he just said. "...Why the Briefs, exactly?"Gohan shrugged. "Well, Bulma is the only one who can get ahold of Whis easily. They're basically best friends. You know, going to get their nails painted and go to expensive restaurants. Because we all know that Vegeta isn't taking her."





	1. Omens

It was early in the morning. Far too early for anyone to be busy, and especially to early for the man next to her to be getting up. He usually slept like a brick unless Pan ended up crying, which was incredible. After all, if she had his enhanced senses, she'd barely be able to get a lick of sleep in. Luckily, Son Gohan was trained for Kami knows how long, she didn't pry too deeply into his childhood, and knew how to push the brakes and handle every muscle in his body like clockwork. A very, very useful skillset for him to have.

But, this morning was different. something felt wrong. A disturbance in something, she assumed, based on the fact that the first thing she saw when her eyes fluttered open was her husband sitting on the edge of the bed, brow furrowed in an expression that meant intense thought, or extreme concern. His dark eyes flicked back to her far quicker than most, like a wild animal who just heard a branch snap. It took a long while to get used to comfortably staring him in the eyes. She was able to stare down at him when they were younger, full-on intimidation, but they were unnatural. Like black holes that followed her every movement, judged every ounce of her being. She knew it was purely superstition, her husband was one of the gentlest men on the planet. Hence why she preferred him with glasses. It diluted the unintentional tension his eyes put off. Made him seem more like... himself.

She sat up, meeting his gaze with a worried expression. "What's wrong?" The question hung in the air for a moment, heavier than it should have been, before he let out a slow exhale.

"I'm going out for a bit." Was the reply. Simple, yes, but it didn't carry force behind it. Despite the fact it seemed like she woke up in the middle of someone's funeral, he was talking like he was about to go out and get some groceries. "If I'm wrong, I'll be back soon." He added, gently turning around and giving her a soft smile, and before she could even blink, he was changing out of night clothes and into the familiar orange gi.

"Does that mean there's a fight? I don't feel a thing, Gohan." She yawned, as he struggled to pull the top on, awkwardly leaning against the closet. She literally had a man made of pure muscle, smarts, and compassion, and he was still an absolute wreck in the mornings. The only thing that seemed constant about him was his hair, that stayed up in the same spikes no matter if it was noon or midnight.

"That's the problem, Videl." Came the muffled, still calm reply. "Usually I can feel some sort of... pressure, when it comes to my Dad. Like, I can guess where he is, but I can't really feel his energy anymore. Not when he's in his God form, at least." He grunted, and there was another flicker, before he was on the edge of the bed, tugging on his left boot. She braced herself for one of his lectures. Son Gohan-- difficult to get talking, but once he got started, he didn't feel like stopping. "Maybe it's because I reawakened my 'potential' and started training again, maybe it's because it was from a godly ritual in the first place? I'm not sure. Anyways-- uh, can you help me with my belt, honey?"

She blinked, realizing that he had managed to tie it on backwards, clearly more preoccupied than his thought process than his clothing. She sighed, shaking her head as she pushed herself out of bed, walked over, and started to untie the belt. "Why do you knot this thing so tightly?" She mumbled, as her husband continued to drabble on.

"What was I saying? Oh, yeah, so basically I don't feel him. Anywhere. I know Beerus' planet is far, but it's like a blip. On the very edge of my radar, my metaphorical radar. I don't actually have a radar, Videl." He glanced down at her.

"I know, Gohan." She grunted, getting the damn knot loose. All the strength in the world, and he still tied things like he was in grade school. Haphazardly and 'good enough'.

"O-oh, yeah, sorry." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, before clearing his throat. "And he can't be on the Planet of the Kai's, because that's even closer. Like, if Lord Beerus was the moon, then that would be like, West City. So basically, that's a problem. A big one. So I'm going over to the Briefs."

Videl blinked, retying his belt as she reassessed what he just said. "...Why the Briefs, exactly?"

Gohan shrugged. "Well, Bulma is the only one who can get ahold of Whis easily. They're basically best friends. You know, going to get their nails painted and go to expensive restaurants. Because we all know that Vegeta isn't taking her." He smiled in thanks at his newly tied gi belt, before walking to the door, making a quick U-Turn to grab his watch, and then jogging to the large open window. It gave off a very nice view of Satan City, which was good for dinner parties and superhero-ing. Gohan swung it open, before the familiar stir of energy began to whip around the room. He turned around, giving her a wide grin as part of his hair dropped into a spiked bang, flitting about in the artificial wind, causing her to roll her eyes with a small groan.

He was a walking trope and barely even realized it.

"I'll try to be back for Pan's interview! We're getting her into that school! My mom always prepared me early, I don't see why she should be any different, you know?" He turned around, before his expression grew serious, and there was a thunderous crash as he shot out the window, full force. The blinds smacked against the wall, her hair flew back wildly, and the soft sound of wailing came from their daughters room. Videl cringed, turning to take care of the baby as a blur of orange shot back in and stumbled into the babies room with a hushed echo of 'sorry, sorry, sorry'. This ordeal went on for five minutes, before the Demi-Saiyan emerged again gently tip-toeing back to the living room cradling the swaddled, calmed infant over to Videl and handed her over, scooted over to the window, and gently rose his power giving her an apologetic shrug.

"Ehehe... guess I got a bit excited. Well, I'm off!" He waved, before slowly floating out the window.

"Wait, Gohan! It's like, four in the morning! Are you sure she'll be fine with this?" Videl asked, giving him a dubious expression and gently rocking the sleeping Pan.

"Bulma won't mind, I'm sure of it!" He said, brightly, before rocketing off into the early morning sky.


	2. Calling Card

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She heard a tapping on the window. 'It must be a bird', she thought, 'Because if it was a person, then I'd murder them on the spot'. She covered her ears, groaning into her pillow. This pillow was expensive. She wanted to enjoy it, dammit.

Bulma Briefs was a woman of many talents. She was one of the most renowned scientists of the known world, a mother of two, managed to tame a wild animal of a man, innovated the best way to find and summon a mystical dragon, invented time travel and basically had connections with literal gods.

So was it too much to ask for a little bit of beauty sleep? 

She had put Bra down two hours ago. She was just as rowdy as her father, and had a knack of crying just as much as well. She had a press meeting in the morning concerning the various explosions that would occur near her house. They were mainly from Vegeta, and whatever friend or bot he decided to spar with, but you couldn't exactly tell the general public that your husband could shoot lasers from his hands and turn cities to ash with a flick of a finger. That'd cause panic, or whatever. So, she needed to prepare a decent enough lie for that, and then lie professionally enough to some business people who wanted a 'partnership' with Capsule Corp, and then finish the new project that they had been hyping up for months. 'Something-something-Capsule for pets'! It was a terrible idea, so she'd been spending extra time to make sure that it wasn't a total disaster. 

Kami, she could not wait until Trunks was old enough to take over the business. 

So, long story short, she was tired. And while she had started to dip into sleep, arms idly reaching for the man that- while he usually found his way into her bed- had decided to spend the night in the gravity chamber, she heard a tapping on the window. _'It must be a bird'_ , she thought, _'Because if it was a person, then I'd murder them on the spot'_. She covered her ears, groaning into her pillow. This pillow was expensive. She wanted to enjoy it, dammit. 

The tapping grew louder. "Psst, Bulma!" She couldn't tell who, exactly. Instinct told her Goku. Actually taking another second to listen brought her to the conclusion that it was Gohan (they sounded so similar, really), Gohan who had decided to ruin her night- or morning, at this point. Her eyes slowly open, before rolling over to face the window with a half-lidded stare. 

Now, she adored Gohan. From the second she met him in his tiny Dragon Ball hat, and cute little Qipao, she had basically adopted him as her son and nephew. He was smart, extremely polite, and had one of the biggest hearts that could possibly reside in a living being. She might have been able to go far enough to say that he was a better Goku, but weren't most children just better versions of their parents? Trunks would probably grow up to be a better version of Vegeta, Bra would be a better version of her, and Marron- well, it was hard to tell which parent she'd end up surpassing. However, at this very moment, she just had the most burning aggression towards the young man that she cared about so dearly. 

He smiled sheepishly, motioning for her to open the window. She smiled back, shaking her head no. 

It was cold out. 

He sighed, before starting to talk anyways. Despite how similar he sounded to his father, he spoke much more eloquently. Like someone who actually read a book every once in a while. "I'm so sorry about this, but I need you to get Whis for me." He bowed, hitting his helmet against the window with a cartoon-ish 'bonk'. He continued, as if trying to just ignore the fact that happened. 

"Dad is missing, and if there's one person who can find him quick, it's Whis." He folded his arms, his expression growing worried. "Dad's too strong to just vanish. Someone has to sense him. He's basically just a- a beacon? A beacon for the planet." 

That sure was reassuring. Bulma went though all the things that could go wrong with having Goku essentially be a giant 'Kick me' sign on the surface of the earth. Her lips pursed. Goku was- is- basically a younger brother to her. So she was a bit worried about him just vanishing. However, he was also a literal god, so she couldn't be too worried. Still, she could practically feel Gohan's puppy-dog eyes drilling into her from behind his visor, and she sighed, pulling herself out of bed. Gohan immediately covered his eyes with an arm. 

"Y-you're only in your underwear, Bulma..." He mumbled. 

"I'm aware." She replied, popping open the window and letting him climb in- blind, mind you. She adored him. After a little bit of fumbling, and the fact that she didn't care what she was wearing because it was her house, damn it, and he was the one that bothered her when she was half-nude, she started to guide the sightless demi-Saiyan throughout the house, before shoving him into a kitchen. "First fridge. There's a shelf entirely containing things Whis hasn't had yet. Use that. You can help yourself to anything in the second fridge. I'm going back to bed. Tell your father that I said 'Hello' when you find him." She droned, leaving him alone with way too much food, and his instructions. 

He wandered around the dark kitchen, before reaching several abnormally large fridges. The one on the far left had a little halo on it. "That must be the one." Gohan mumbled, walking towards it, before searching frantically for a handle that didn't seem to exist on it. He tapped it several times, before it lit up where his finger struck it. _"Analyzing fingerprint. User found: Son Gohan. Designation: The Good One. Access granted."_ He smiled a bit, chuckling. "Aw, Bulma..." The fridge opened up, leaving him with a plethora of... really fancy food. He reached in, grabbing some sort... cake? What was this called? Tirama-something or other. Either way, it'd probably do. He stared at it, before almost jumping as the fridge spoke again. 

_"Alpha Refrigerator Opened. Would you like to play the automated calling message?"_ Gohan blinked, before nodding. There was a beat. "O-oh. Yes, please." There was another pause, before the automated message began to play. Much more chipper than the incredibly tired voice he had heard mere minutes ago. It was kind of funny, honestly. 

_"Hey, Whis! It's me, Bulma! I got something real nice for you, so just come down when you get this and it's all yours! Love you! Muah!"_

He stood for a second, before heading open to the second fridge, opening it up. If he was going to be stuck here waiting for Whis, he might as well get an early morning snack. Who would know when he'd be able to get breakfast, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Heeeeeeeey-- yes I'm also working on my Jojo fic, but I'm getting ideas and here we are!
> 
> One note, there's going to be a lot of perspective changes. Sometimes it'll change scene entirely, sometimes it'll just be for one scene, but just saying this as a foreward
> 
> Also my first time writing Gohan n Videl, so if you have any criticisms or whatever, feel free to add! Videl's character got a bit weird post-Z, so as I write her a bit more I kind of want to make her more brash and sarcastic like she was in the Buu saga.
> 
> Chapters will probably vary in length depending on content but that's basic faire sooooo yeah! Hope you guys enjoy!


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